1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driver performance monitoring system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a software enabled system which employs collected personalized information on each driver, a driver performance history as well as collected data concerning current driver performance, to automatically ascertain and assign relevant driver training content to drivers. The customized remedial training for each driver is calculated to subsequently reduce driver risk levels and thereby promote safer driving by drivers. The system herein is widely employable for such monitoring and customized training for businesses, government, commercial carriers. Further, the system herein is also adapted for use with insurance carriers for insured driver training and remediation, for business monitoring and driver remediation of independent contractors, and for consumers directly. Therefore, any reference to a particular market or driver type herein is for ease of description and should in no manner be considered as limiting the scope or deployment of the system herein.
2. Prior Art
Many businesses have employees and business representatives who drive on behalf of the firm, for deliveries as well as for visiting clients. Government entities, across the nation, have employees who must drive as part of their job, on behalf of the government agency, to visit people, business, and locations where their presence may be required.
Because driving employees of both business and government are essentially an extension of their employer, it is a particular concern to make sure they are driving safely. This is because their can be a high potential for liability to the employer, for actions by employees while driving. Further, safe and courteous driving is also something that reflects on the employer when third parties can ascertain, from the vehicle driven, the identity of their employer.
The same issues arise with commercial carriers who employ drivers of large trucks and other vehicles. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) program requires that commercial carriers employing drivers be vigilant about driver hiring. This program additionally requires carriers employing drivers of large trucks and commercial vehicles to provide ongoing monitoring and training to ensure that all drivers are performing their duties in a safe and professional manner.
As a consequence of liability, legal requirements, and insurance requirements, businesses, government agencies, and commercial carriers have initiated programs for increasing safety and reducing accidents by their employees who drive. Such programs generally have an ultimate goal of reducing accidents and injuries caused by poor or unsafe driving habits of employed drivers.
However, such programs are less than effective because they generally are based on information collected on driving employees, after an unsafe or discourteous driving event has occurred, and then reported to the employer. While commercial carriers may have “black boxes” in large trucks to record driving by their employees, such is not the case for businesses and government agencies where employees are driving personal cars or pickup trucks. As a consequence, reviewing the driving habits of employees on an ongoing basis, if it occurs in business and government, is at best problematic, as it is based on the few reports of unsafe and problematic drivers, where third parties might take the time to do so.
Further, an issue arises in the hiring of employees for government and businesses in determining new employees ability to drive safely and courteously. Currently, if any review is done on new drivers, it is by obtaining their driving record from a motor vehicle department, which may list past infractions. However, many drivers who receive driving infraction tickets are able to have them removed from their record by attending traffic school or the like. Further, it is not unknown that a new employee will have a license in a new state, and their prior record in a different state will go unnoticed.
As a consequence, businesses and government agencies who hire employees who drive, have little to use as a predictor of the likely driving habits of a newly hired employee. Further, because most reports of unsafe driving occur after an occurrence, if a report is even received, ascertaining safe driving habits of employees of such businesses and government agencies, is poorly handled.
Even where employers and government agencies do attempt some sort of ongoing driver monitoring and educational program, such are usually a generic or generalized approach to safety and education for their drivers on an ongoing basis. Such programs rarely are able to access individual drivers and their habits, and determine a customized remedial plan to meet each driver's needs.
Further, when actually providing such courses to their drivers, employers must remove them from the road and into classrooms or meeting rooms, where they are paid but not producing revenue or results. While the goal of driver safety is ascertained as worth the cost for such continuing education for drivers, the provision of generalized safety and information courses which are not prioritized and customized for each driver's needs is not the best use of the driver's time or the cost expended by the employer.
As such, there is a continuing unmet need for a system which will identify specific areas for instruction which are customized for each driver to improve identified driver performance shortcomings in need of safety or improvement. Such a system should be able to ascertain potential areas for instruction of newly hired employees where little or no driving record is available. Such a system should be configured to take into consideration a collected ongoing driving record of each driver, as well as collected driving data from motor vehicle departments and the like, for customizing ongoing instruction to the determined need of each driver.
Thereafter, such a system should enable the drivers to receive such individualized instruction and education with a minimal amount of time out of the driver's seat, to better serve both the drivers and their employees. Further, such a system should also track compliance and completion of the customized courses for each driver to help ensure the employer that their goals for safety through driver monitoring and education are being met.
The forgoing examples of related art of driver safety and limitation related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.